Vol. 14 (1) September 2014 – OPIEJ https://opiej.mpob.gov.my Oil Palm Industry Economic Journal Thu, 21 Mar 2019 03:31:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 Impacts of the New CPO Export Tax Structure on the Malaysian Refining Industry https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/impacts-of-the-new-cpo-export-tax-structure-on-the-malaysian-refining-industry/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:55:29 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=356 Read more]]> The performance of the Malaysian palm oil refining industry had been greatly affected since Indonesia revised her palm oil export tax structure in 2012, which made her palm products more competitive in the world market. To improve the performance of the Malaysian refining industry, the government also revised its long-standing crude palm oil (CPO) export tax (operative since the 1970s) and implemented a new export tax structure, effective 1 January 2013. This is a proactive approach by the Malaysian government to increase competitiveness. As a result, the performance of the industry has been much better after the implementation, with exports of oil palm products increasing, stocks of palm oil declining, the price of CPO showing an upward trend and volatility reduced, refinery capacity utilisation rate increasing, purchases of CPO by refineries rising, processing of CPO growing, and production of finished products also expanding. Average capacity utilisation recorded a higher rate at 56.9%, or an increase by 10% after implementation of the new export tax structure as compared with the rate in 2012. The total volume of CPO purchased by refineries also increased to 12.62 million tonnes in 2013 from 11.49 million tonnes in 2012. Meanwhile, the total volume of CPO processed by refineries in 2013 had increased to 15.89 million tonnes compared with 14.07 million tonnes in 2012, or an increase of 12.9%. Production of finished products also recorded positive performance at 0.30 million tonnes in 2013 compared with 0.29 million tonnes in 2012. A survey carried out on refineries showed that the majority of them (71%) felt that the government should continue with the new CPO export tax structure.

Keywords: new CPO export tax structure, competitiveness, capacity utilisation rate

]]> Vintage Approach to Forecasting Palm Oil Production in Peninsular Malaysia https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/vintage-approach-to-forecasting-palm-oil-production-in-peninsular-malaysia/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:54:03 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=354 Read more]]> Oil palm is an important crop to the Malaysian economy. Due to its strategic significance there is a need to have a reliable estimate of the production of the commodity to facilitate decision-making by policymakers and industry participants. The vintage approach has been shown to be more efficient in taking into account the age of palms and their yield profile when estimating production compared with other methods. The study utilised the vintage approach adapted from Smit (2010). The findings suggest that the vintage model developed is capable of projecting as well as simulating the impact on the palm oil sector if a change or shock is injected into the system.

Keywords: vintage approach, CPO forecast, Peninsular Malaysia, agricultural policy, NKEA replanting policy

]]> Decomposition of Productivity Growth of the Malaysian Palm Oil Mill Sector https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/decomposition-of-productivity-growth-of-the-malaysian-palm-oil-mill-sector/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:50:34 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=352 Read more]]> This study investigates total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the Malaysian palm oil mill sector over the period 2005-2010, using a Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) model. TFP growth was decomposed into three components, namely, technical efficiency (TE), technical progress (TP) and scale components (SEC). The empirical results show that productivity growth was driven mainly by TE for all palm oil mills, followed by TP. However, a change in the scale components had a negative effect on productivity growth. Overall, the study suggests that there are opportunities to improve productivity growth in the Malaysian palm oil mill sector.

Keywords: Malaysian palm oil mill, total factor productivity, technical
progress, technical efficiency, scale components

]]> Workforce in the Malaysian Oil Palm Nursery https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/workforce-in-the-malaysian-oil-palm-nursery/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:48:34 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=350 Read more]]> This article attempts to estimate workforce, labour shortage as well as land to labour ratio by job category in oil palm nursery sector in Malaysia since labour is a major concerns in the oil palm industry especially in oil palm nursery and plantation. Survey technique was used for data collection. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to 739 oil palm nurseries in Malaysia which registered with MPOB. Total labour requirement and shortage according to job categories namely manager, assistant manager, clerk, supervisor, operator and general worker were identified. Operator with the job scopes of planting seedlings in polybags, spraying insecticide, fertilising and watering the plant was the highest labour required by oil palm nursery. The second highest number of workers required falls under the general worker such as driver, co-driver and others. In Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, operators and general worker were dominated by foreign workers, meanwhile in Sarawak only job category as operator is dominated by foreign workers. As in oil palm plantation sector, oil palm nursery also faces labour shortage problem especially for job category such as operator and general worker

Keywords: oil palm nursery, labour, shortage, land-labour ratio

]]>